Tuesday’s Headlines: Nap Time for the City that Never Sleeps Edition
Tens of thousands of businesses will close. The police commissioner doesn't respect the mayor. And President Trump may send in troops. Our city is in serious trouble. Plus the other news.
By
Streetsblog
12:04 AM EDT on July 21, 2020
One-third of New York City Mom and Pops aren’t going to reopen when this is all over, a new report says.
As detailed in the Post, a report by the Partnership for New York City suggests that something like 76,000 of the city’s 230,000 small businesses won’t survive the pandemic. The report [here] also said that 25 percent of Manhattan office worker will never return. And many companies won’t even bother to ask workers to come back to work, since 54 percent of city jobs can be done remotely.
It’s all pretty grim.
In other news about our crumbling city:
- The mayor finally comment on how is police commissioner called him and other city leaders “cowards.” True to form, the mayor said it was OK. (NY Post)
- Meanwhile, President Trump threatened that he’d do to other cities what his unaccountable troops did to Portland. (NY Times, Gothamist)
- Multiple outlets (NYDN, NY Times) had more on the heart-wrenching death of WCBS2 reporter Nina Kapur, but the Post had a detail that raised the question that maybe the Revel scooter she was riding on had been hit by a driver who fled.
- Why do MTA officials even have cars? (The City)
- Now here’s a perfect use for curbside space: Joshua Torres, a building super in Upper Manhattan, repurposed some useless parking spaces into a pool for neighborhood kids. (WSJ)
- Mark Hallum at amNY found more evidence of a coming carpocalyse: an online car-buying site is busy busy busy.
- We couldn’t bear to watch, but Guse at the Newsuh posted a story on that insane video of two morons treating Inwood like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
- Mayor de Blasio took credit as Citi Bike marked its 100 millionth ride yesterday (Patch) — but public investment in this vital form of public transportation would have gotten the bike share system to that milestone much earlier.
- MTA boss Sarah Feinberg seems to be the only person upset that the NYPD is no longer in charge of evicting homeless people from the subway (NY Post). Reminder: The NYPD should not be doing homeless outreach.
- The MTA said it will fix the F train tube, the last Sandy-damaged subway tunnel, with the same methods it used to avoid the dreaded L-pocalyse. (NYDN)
- And in case you missed it, we sent the intern out into the hottest day of the year with a bottle of water and a notebook, and he came back with a great story about how the de Blasio administration fails the hardest-hit communities. (Streetsblog)
This piece was the work of the Streetsblog staff.
Read More:
More from Streetsblog New York City
State Bill Would Stop Highway Expansions Near Vulnerable New Yorkers
Assembly Member Emerita Torres's Stop Highway Community Harm Act would ban the state from expanding highways within 200 feet of public housing or in ZIP codes with the highest asthma-related emergency room visits in the state.
April 3, 2026
Study: How Capping Vehicle Sizes Could Help Save the World
...and why a multi-pronged transportation reform strategy is critical to curb climate change, slash road deaths, and more.
April 3, 2026
Friday’s Headlines: Margin For Terror Edition
The trendline for carnage is going the right way. But it ain't zero. Plus other news.
April 3, 2026
Talking Headways Podcast: Civil Rights, Civic Transport
Let's talk about "disparate impact" — and why the Trump administration wants to gut it.
April 3, 2026
UPDATE: Hit-And-Run Ambulance Driver Kills Woman on Deadly Ocean Avenue
The victim was taken to Maimonides Hospital, where she died. The driver fled. It turns out, he was driving an ambulance.
April 2, 2026
Comments Are Temporarily Disabled
Streetsblog is in the process of migrating our commenting system. During this transition, commenting is temporarily unavailable.
Once the migration is complete, you will be able to log back in and will have full access to your comment history. We appreciate your patience and look forward to having you back in the conversation soon.